New to the game! Help needed.

Hey everyone.  I'm new to HayTalk and love reading the forums.  Just a little background info, I grew up on a decent sized family farm in Eastern Colorado (corn, beets, wheat, alfalfa).  Recently graduated college, and purchased a 120 acre irrigated farm in SE Wyoming.  Everything is in Alfalfa, and an Alfalfa/Grass mix.  I have connections to the dairy industry back home, and can easily move hay that tests.  We have cattle as well, so low grade stuff is used at home.  

 

I do all of my own swathing with a New Idea 12 ft. disc mower, have a good quality Darf rake, New Holland BR 790 round baler, an inline massey small baler (not sure on the model right off hand).  Everything is run off of a JD 4450 tractor, with a decent sized loader.  I also own an 3/4 ton dodge 5.9 diesel, and have access to a 32 ft gooseneck flat bed and a 16 ft bumper pull flat bed.  I have neighbors who do tons of custom haying, and have been baling most of my stuff into 3x4's.  

 

Currently I am trying to expand my business a bit, and thinking about getting into the horse hay market. Cheyenne is a little over an hour away, and past that into think I can get into some pretty subdivision-y horse places in Northern Colorado.  I have been advertising on line (facebook pages and CL) and have had quite a bit of interest.  I have small bales (60 lbs.) listed at $6 in field, $7 from stack, $9 delivered+ freight.  I have been pricing big stuff at $175/ton.  I have also opted to start a delivery service, to make room for additional opportunities and keep me busier this summer.  Most hauls will be within a 150 mile radius of my place.  All transactions will be cash only.  

 

So to all you vets of the hay business, what are some things I need to consider?  I have bunches of questions so if you have opinions or experience in anything feel free to chime in!  Some of my questions include,

 

Are my hay prices low, high? (hay traders are getting $10 at the barn, $12 at feedstores, I want to compete but dont want to work myself to death and have nothing to show for it.  Dairy quality will sell for $200 a ton, but my middle of the road stuff went to traders for about $100 this year...)  

 

How much should I be charging for delivery? (I was going to charge a little over my cost of fuel and chip in $10-15/hr drive time for my time, some people mentioned to me that I was cheap. What are guys charging for delivery in other parts of the country?).  

 

What kind of trailers would be ideal to deliver to these kind of people?  (The trailers listed above are my fathers, I am hoping to invest in something for myself, that can be multipurposed for taking 3x4's off fields, hauling the JD 4450 around.  What sizes are preferred, deck height, anything extra to make life easier for myself, as I will be the only one loading and unloading.  Any resources as to how many small bales you guys have been putting on trailers? Weight of loads? How to properly stack and strap em in? Let the pictures flow!)

 

Other resources or avenues for advertising or getting into this market successfully?

 

I am not a horse man myself, any big hang ups or issues you have seen in these kind of clients?

 

I really appreciate any feedback that you guys have to offer, even if it is for me to just steer clear of this crazy notion running around in my head! Thanks in advance.  

 

 

 

New to the game! Help needed.